Work visas for international professional hit the cap in one day
by Yuan Fu
AUSTIN, April 3 -- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that the 2008 quota for the H-1B visa, the non-immigrant visa used by U.S. companies to employ international professionals, has been depleted on the first day the department began to accept petitions.
A written statement from immigration services stated that as of April 2, it had received more than 150,000 petitions for H-1B visas, which is nearly twice the 85,000 H1-B quota allowed for fiscal year 2008. With the cap already exceeded, the department could reject any additional petitions for work visas for 2008 received on or after April 4.
This number sets the record for the fastest time the number of visas allowed has been depleted. Last year, the visa supply lasted nearly two months.
The requests are filled on a first-come, first-served basis until the quota is nearly reached. The final applications are then chosen randomly, known as H-1B lottery.